2 New Hampshire lawmakers presented a bill on the floor of the house this month that if passed would allow state level agencies accept crypto-currencies as payment; this will include state’s tax office.
Michael Yakubovich and Dennis Action, both New Hampshire reps tabled House bill 470 on the 3rd of January seeking to require New Hampshire state agencies accept cryptos as tax payments as well as other fees through a third party entity.
If the bill presented by the two New Hampshire reps is passed as presented, then the state treasurer would have until November 1 2019, to have a plan in place for the development of these agencies in preparation for crypto-currency payments. Under the current practice, only US dollars are being accepted by state agencies for making various payments, the use of any other currency is immediately rejected.
The passage of the bill though would see state agencies having to accept an undetermined number and type of cryptos through an appropriate third party payment processor that will process crypto transactions at no cost to the state.
The bill presented by the two reps reads;
“Assuming legislation is approved to amend this statute, the issues of valuation and currency risk are heightened by the volatility of crypto currency (bitcoin) fluctuations in value against the U.S. dollar,”
It goes on to state that;
“Tax payments received by the state would need to be converted to U.S. dollars or alternatively, mitigate such risk by continually monitoring crypto-currency levels held by the state to ensure there is as much demand for state payments to vendors and payees as the state have in its ‘inventory’.”
If the bill is co-signed by the house, New Hampshire agencies would begin accepting cryptos on July 1 2020.
The state of New Hampshire has been involved in a raging debate about the possibility of accepting Bitcoin for taxes for a while now. A bill had been tabled back in 2015, proposing that the state partners with a Bitcoin startup inorder to begin accepting crypto payments. According to public records, this bill met its demise in the committee stage after facing sharp opposition. Similar efforts in the state of Ohio had hit a brick wall as well.
If the state of New Hampshire approves the newly presented bill, it would join the state of Ohio in accepting Bitcoin payments. Ohio has seen its fair share of crypto developments in the past year, which has seen the state accept taxes in crypto while also partnering with crypto outfit, Bitpay in the conversion of Bitcoins to Us dollars.
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